Grass frog

Grass frogs is a catch-all term for a wide range of fairly unrelated frogs. The species referred to as "grass frogs" are typically medium-sized Neobatrachia that live in or near small rivers, lakes or ponds in grassland habitat, with a greenish to brownish back that often carries yellowish or blackish stripes or dots for good camouflage. Though among their relatives there are frogs that climb well, "grass frogs" are hardly ever found to climb trees. "Grass frogs" are by no means a group of closest relatives, though many look remarkably similar in overall habitus courtesy to millions of years of convergent evolution.

In Australia, "grass frogs" are usually members of the tree frog family (Hylidae), in particular of the genus "Litoria".

In most of the rest of the world, especially in North America and Europe, "grass frogs" are usually members of the true frog family (Ranidae), in particular of the genus "Rana".

The widespread African true frog species "Ptychadena mascareniensis" is the archetypal "grass frog" of its home continent. In Asia, it is "Rana chensinensis". The Common Frog ("Rana temporaria") is the typical "grass frog" of much of Europe, while the leopard frogs of the "Rana pipiens" complex - also known as "meadow frogs" - are what most North Americans know as "grass frogs". However, the Little Grass Frog ("Pseudacris ocularis") of the southeastern USA belongs to the tree frogs.

The Spotted Grass Frog, "Limnodynastes tasmaniensis" belongs to the Australian ground frog family (Myobatrachidae).

ee also

* Rocket frog
* Torrent frog
* Tree frog